Thomas Davidson,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary 1908…
(1908)
“ Stem, stem, n. the prow of a ship: a curved piece of timber at the prow to which the two sides of a ship are united.—v.t. to cut, as with the stem: to resist or make progress against: to stop, to check:—pr.p. stem′ming; pa.t. and pa.p. stemmed.—From stem to stern, from one end of a vessel to the other: completely, throughout. [Same word as above.] Steme, stēm, v.t. an obsolete form of steam. ”
